VIEWPOINT: Don't talk down to your targets, talk with them

<p>It seems like the more we learn, the less we realise we know. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The teen market is a classic case in point. Speaker after speaker at the </p><p>recent Teen Power 2000 conference in Hong Kong referred to surveys and </p><p>research which had been conducted on this segment, only to conclude that </p><p>the demographic continued to confound marketers and agencies alike </p><p>because of its volatility. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Teenagers are moving targets. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Just when you think you have them in your sights, they duck, dive or </p><p>weave out of position, usually reappearing in some totally new, </p><p>transmuted form. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>There are few target audiences which are as changeable and unpredictable </p><p>as the youth market, and the problem is exacerbated by the fact that the </p><p>people attempting to reach them are always "old farts", comparatively </p><p>speaking. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>If the teens' own parents and teachers fail to understand them or </p><p>communicate successfully with them, what hope for the rest of the </p><p>world? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And don't think that surveys or research will keep you afloat - by the </p><p>time results have been compiled, tabulated and analysed, teens have </p><p>moved on and whatever moved them at the time fieldwork was being </p><p>conducted, suddenly becomes "like, so yesterday". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It might seem like a radical, totally ridiculous idea (but then again, </p><p>so are teenagers), but marketers should consider taking on board a </p><p>teenaged consultancy panel, who can share insights and suggest where a </p><p>marketing strategy or a creative concept might be improved to reach </p><p>their peers successfully. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>If you recall the Tom Hanks movie Big, this is exactly what happened - </p><p>he played a young boy trapped in the body of a grown man, and somehow </p><p>ended up on the R&D team at a toy company. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>His insights into what kids today wanted from their toys confounded his </p><p>adult colleagues, but in every instance, he was proved right. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Of course, taking advice from consultants who are still in the throes of </p><p>puberty might be hard to swallow for some marketers, but let's face it - </p><p>it's a lot cheaper than risking total failure by not getting it right in </p><p>the first place. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>